Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to information processing for creating a workflow.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a system capable of extending functions of an image forming apparatus installed in an office has been in widespread use. Functions for extending the functions of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter, the functions are referred to as extension functions) are realized by software (hereinafter referred to as extension software). Extension functions may be added not only when shipped from a factory but also when the system is in operation after installation. In particular, extension software created for a certain purpose is referred to as application software (hereinafter referred to as an application). Each application may implement processing by using functions, such as a facsimile, a scanner, and a printer, which are included in the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is configured in such a manner that a user can install therein a plurality of applications according to intended use.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-134872 discusses a technique in which a user defines a series of processes (hereinafter referred to as a workflow) by arbitrarily combining a plurality of processes for input, conversion, and output, and charging is performed based on charging rules specific to each process.
In the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-134872, when the user selects a workflow, a flow definition accepting unit accepts setting conditions necessary for each process of the selected workflow, creates flow definition information, and transmits the flow definition information to a processing server to request the processing server to execute the workflow. In other words, in the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-134872, all conditions necessary for each process of the workflow are preliminarily set before the server is requested to execute the workflow.
However, depending on the processing content of the workflow, it may be difficult to preliminarily set all conditions before execution of the workflow. For example, in the case of creating a workflow by combining three processes of “scan”, “optical character recognition (OCR)”, and “transmit”, assume that there is a workflow for setting a transmission destination number in the process of “transmit” when the user refers to the OCR result obtained by performing OCR of a scanned image. In such a case, there is a need to obtain the OCR result before displaying a transmission setting screen for setting the transmission destination number in the process of “transmit”. The transmission setting screen cannot be displayed before the workflow is executed. Accordingly, in the workflow of this example, the user needs to stand by in front of the apparatus until the scan process and the OCR process are completed.
On the other hand, some processes do not require the condition setting by the user. In such processes, no setting screen is displayed and thus there is no need for the user to stand by in front of the apparatus until the processing of the workflow is completed. In other words, in order to determine whether there is a need for the user to stand by in front of the apparatus, it is necessary for the user to grasp the type of a setting screen to be displayed in the workflow that is instructed to be executed, and to grasp when the setting screen is displayed.